Staff

Linda Meyer, Executive Director
Missouri Co-coordinator Postpartum Support International
Linda’s experiences with Postpartum Depression in 1990 and 1993, along with the lack of knowledge and understanding from family, friends and healthcare providers, presented the opportunity to learn more about Postpartum Adjustment Disorders (PPAD.) She felt a great need to help by sharing her story and offering reassurance to other mothers experiencing similar problems. In 1992, she began attending St. Louis area support groups as a PPD survivor and offering support for moms experiencing PPAD. In 1995, she met Darcell Scharff, PhD, who had recently developed a telephone support program for women with PPAD. Together, Linda and Darcy began providing a service that would help all women experiencing PPAD in the St. Louis Community. Linda runs all of the daily activities of the organization, speaks to all women who seek the services of Mother to Mother, and provides education and information about the services of Mother to Mother. Linda has been a Missouri Co-coordinator for Postpartum Support International since 2005. Linda lives with her husband, Joe, and two daughter’s Danielle and Angela.

Angela Borisch Staples, Director of Volunteers
Angela has a professional background in social work and has a passion in mental health. She has worked in volunteer management since 1997 with youth and adults. Angela's responsibilities include: recruiting volunteers, holding orientation sessions, finding suitable volunteers for each task needed. The majority of MtM's volunteers act as phone support, assisting with community outreach and organizing fundraisers. Angela is the mother of a school-aged daughter and a toddler son. She is also a phone volunteer with Mother to Mother.

Board of Directors

Darcell P. Scharff, Ph.D.
Dr. Darcell (Darcy) Scharff is the founder of Mother to Mother and a member of its board of directors. Her interest in perinatal mood disorders initiated through her personal experience with postpartum depression and the relatively scant amount of information and services available to women. Mother to Mother evolved from a dissertation project in 1995, to a not-for-profit organization in 2001 with well established organizational structure, policies and procedures. She developed the training for the telephone volunteers, and is currently developing a train the trainer program. Dr. Scharff is a faculty member in the Department of Community Health and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at the Saint Louis University School of Public Health. She teaches courses in behavioral science and health education.

President
Kelly Caul, MSW, LCSW
Kelly is the founder of EMPOWERED Therapy, LLC, which is a highly specialized psychotherapy practice focused on providing comprehensive therapeutic services to teenagers, women, and parents. She is dedicated to empowering individuals to become strong, confident, resilient, and capable people who everyday live the life they have envisioned for themselves. EMPOWERED Therapy, LLC, provides individual therapy, group therapy, and parent coaching. In addition, workshops and trainings are available on a variety of topics for both youth and adults. Kelly is passionate about empowering women and working to find ways to create opportunities and environments in which women can thrive. www.kellycaul.com

Shelley Burnette RN, MSN
Shelley has worked professionally as a nurse in Women and Infants for over 30 years, working mainly with inner city high-risk obstetrics. She has a Masters in Nursing Education, her Master’s thesis was on the importance of social support for women with Postpartum Depression. In addition to nursing, she spent time as an educator at Goldfarb Barnes-Jewish College of Nursing. Shelley has volunteered with Mother to Mother for many years, serving as a phone and outreach volunteer, as well as participating and coordinating fundraisers. On a personal level, she suffered with both Postpartum Depression and/or Postpartum Psychosis with each of her four adult children and remembers that in the late 80’s and through the 90’s there was little or no understanding for these illnesses. Shelley’s true passion lies in outreach and education; she does not want her daughter or other child bearing women to suffer the way she did.

Courtney Vallade, MSW, LCSW
As a school social worker, Courtney helps young adolescents develop the tools needed to work through challenges and achieve success. Courtney works closely with students, parents, administrators and teachers, and she particularly enjoys working with young women and empowering them to be strong, independent, respectful, and confident. In addition, Courtney has experience and a special interest in women’s issues and reproductive health.

Advisory Board

Diane Sanford, Ph.D.
Dr. Sanford is an author, educator, and speaker, her mission is to help women learn how to lead healthier, happier lives in mind-body-and spirit. An internationally recognized expert in pregnancy and postpartum emotional health, she has appeared on numerous TV and radio shows including Good Morning America. She is one of the most called upon women’s health experts for the American Psychological Association, and has been interviewed for stories in The New York Times, Washington Post, Newsweek, Parents, Woman’s Day, Redbook, Ebony, Cosmopolitan, and most major women’s publications. She has contributed her expertise to numerous women’s health and parenting websites including WebMD, Babycenter.com, Sports Illustrated for Women, Fit Pregnancy, Child, Lifetime, Revolution Health, and Health A to Z. She is Clinical Advisor of Mother to Mother, a phone support program for St. Louis moms, and has served on the Boards of Postpartum Support International, Depression After Delivery, ICEA Consultants, and Babycenter’s Medical Advisors.

Jan Munro, Ed.D., L.P.C.
Jan became interested in health behavior and support for women's causes while working at Washington University School of Medicine's Division of Health Behavior Research and working with Darcy Sharff on the Missouri Society for Health Educators. She is Assistant Dean of Counseling, teaches graduate students in professional and school counseling, and counsels students in the Student Counseling and Resource Center at Lindenwood University. She especially loves to teach a course on clinical hypnotherapy that provides new ways to manage pain and deal with loss.

Sharon Vermont, MD

Lisa Moscoso, M.D., Ph.D.
Dr. Moscoso is a pediatric hospitalist at Barnes-Jewish Hospital.

Maria Carella, LPC
Maria is a Licensed Professional Counselor and Certified Prenatal Yoga Instructor who has been helping women deal with the emotional and mental challenges of infertility, pregnancy and parenting for over 20 years. In addition to individual and family counseling she facilitates groups for women and couples incorporating mind-body principles. She has specialized training in somatic psychotherapy, hypnosis, yoga and sandplay therapy. www.mariacarella.com

Sarah F. Coffman, MSW, LCSW
Sarah has dedicated her career to improving the lives of women. The focus of her private psychotherapy practice (Rite of Passage) www.rite-of-passage.com is helping women and adolescent girls survive life transitions with a specialty in perinatal mood disorders. A graduate of Washington University, where she now teaches as an Adjunct Instructor, Sarah maintains an active presence in the community as a private doula, the Missouri Co-coordinator for Postpartum Support International, and a contributing member of several other professional organizations.

Laura Musbach Drake
Professionally, Laura Drake served non-profit organizations throughout the Saint Louis community for 17 years through staff positions and then as founder and owner of a freelance event planning company working with charities and non-profit organizations, Splendor Event Services. Laura has relocated to Sun Valley, Idaho, but still advises Mother to Mother as needed. She holds a Bachelor of Journalism degree from the University of Missouri-Columbia, and is also a Cherubs Board member for Guardian Angel Settlement Association. She has two children; Alexis age 9 and Hayden age 5.

Stephanie Starkloff Morgan - (Past President)
Stephanie Starkloff Morgan, MPH has been working in the field of maternal child health for over a decade. She holds a Master of Public Health from Saint Louis University and began her career working with pregnant and parenting families with a nonprofit organization in an impoverished area of rural Missouri. She was an active member of La Leche League, assisting in the coordination of an enrichment group for nursing moms in her community while raising her own two children. Currently Stephanie serves as a phone volunteer and chairs the Board of Directors for Mother to Mother as well as staying active as an advisory board member for Whole Kids Outreach. She resides in Webster Groves with her husband, Jim and two children, Jack-age 10 and Abby-age 8.